A U.S. federal judge has ordered Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft to proceed to a jury trial, rejecting motions by both companies to dismiss the case. The trial is scheduled for late April in federal court in Oakland, bringing Microsoft formally into the dispute alongside OpenAI.
Musk, who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 with Sam Altman and others, alleges that the organization violated its original nonprofit mission by restructuring into a for-profit entity and accepting billions of dollars in backing from Microsoft. OpenAI and Microsoft have argued the claims are unfounded, but the judge ruled there is sufficient evidence for a jury to determine whether OpenAI breached its nonprofit commitments and whether Microsoft knowingly supported that shift.
